


Words That Keep Us Together

by generalfrings



Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: F/F, Succubi & Incubi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 06:48:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5119055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/generalfrings/pseuds/generalfrings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lauren can't believe she's just summoned a sex demon.</p><p>For the prompt <i>i am lonely, reckless, and very interested in being seduced by a sex demon, but i ended up summoning you more and more and i think i actually kind of want a relationship now is this what fwb to lovers feels like</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Words That Keep Us Together

**Author's Note:**

> This is as much [heroau](http://heroau.tumblr.com)'s child as it is mine. She's the one who sent me the prompt, and she's also helped a great deal in all portions of this story. Go send her some hugs!
> 
> She's also made an [AMAZING PLAYLIST](http://8tracks.com/superheroau/words-that-keep-us-together) entirely based on this. I promise you'll be blown away if you pay attention to the lyrics.
> 
> Happy Halloween!

Mani keeps insisting it's a bad idea, and that Lauren "has no idea what she's doing", but Lauren has the book in her hands now, and Mani can't tell her what to do. (She's got to remember to thank Camila for stealing the book from Mani's attic for her, because Camila's in for a lot of trouble once Mani finds out she'd helped Lauren.)

Lauren copies the enchantment over into her journal by pencil, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar words in her mind as she does, and double checks she has everything right before grabbing her pen to write over the words.

She's ruffling through the other pages of the book curiously, turning it aside to try to read the notes written in the margins, when Dinah barges into her room unannounced, apparently recovered from the hangover she'd been nursing on Lauren's couch.

"If Normani kills Walz over this, I'm strangling you," Dinah tells her, stealing the book from Lauren's hands without paying her protests any mind. "I can't pay rent by myself."

"I'll make sure to let Camz know that's the extent of her use for you," Lauren drawls, and Dinah rolls her eyes and plops down next to her.

"So how's this work? Have you already put together what hottie you're gonna summon?"

" _Not_  how it works, apparently," Lauren says, wrestling her for the book back and giving up when Dinah refuses to loosen her grip. Camila's already dead enough without returning the book torn apart to Mani's attic, she decides. "Look," she says, pointing towards the margin where some messy notes are scrawled. "It says to envision what you want out of the experience while you recite the enchantment."

Dinah whistles and raises a teasing eyebrow her way. "Whatcha gonna think about? Chains and whips for sure."

" _No_. Shut  _up_ , Dinah," Lauren huffs. "Can you take that back to Camz since you're  _leaving_ now?"

"Rude ass. Fine. Let me know how the freaky demon sex goes later," Dinah says with a smirk, patting Lauren's leg before heading off and leaving her to go over her notes.

 

*******

 

**[5:02PM]** _  
Dinah said she only puts up with you because of the rent money._

**[5:04PM]** _  
I'm sorry to say she got to me before you did_

_I was warned this text was coming_

**[5:04PM]** _  
Goddamnit..._

_Thanks for helping me get the book, babe._

**[5:05PM]** _  
just go easy on the freaky stuff_

_don't go scaring the sex demon away_

 

*******

 

Lauren doesn't know what to expect as she finishes saying the last word of the enchantment - there's no bursts of light or smoke, no loud noises, not even any sort of flames anywhere. All she gets is a sudden presence in front of her as she puts the notebook aside, and it would be anti-climatic if the woman in front of her was any less gorgeous.

It takes Lauren a moment to notice how short the succubus is, because she's too busy staring at the cleavage tightly clad in leather in front of her - not to mention the dark smoky eyes staring at her and the legs that seem to go on forever, and, holy crap. Lauren can't believe she's just summoned a sex demon.

The clacking of the heels is what makes her realize their difference in height - when she snaps her eyes down to look, she notices the sharp heels that must be at least five inches high, and it makes her gulp the sudden dryness in her mouth. 

There's no horns, no demon tail, nothing that would indicate in any way that this is a demon in front of her - nothing except for that devilish smirk playing on her lips, that is.

"Well, this is a nice surprise," the succubus drawls, in what sounds like a vaguely Southern accent (fitting, Lauren thinks), stepping closer and twirling a strand of Lauren's hair around her finger. Lauren gulps again, because the smirk being sent her way is positively hungry.

And listen, Lauren was already very much interested in being seduced by some kind of sex demon. Like, she'd done it, after all, hadn't she? But now that she has a drop dead gorgeous one standing right in front of her, who, by the way, smells  _amazing_ , she's frozen on the spot.

“Did you call me over just to stare?" the succubus asks, trailing a manicured finger down the middle of Lauren's chest, and Lauren shivers. The touch of her finger is heated over Lauren's sleep shirt, but it still has chills running down Lauren's body so hard her back arches. She wonders briefly if she should've changed out of her lazy sweatpants and t-shirt combo before trying this, but she has a feeling she won't be keeping her clothes on for much longer if the ravenous look in the succubus' eyes is any indication.

Lauren shakes her head at herself then, because she swears she has better game than this. She swallows, steels herself, and reaches for the leather clad waist in front of her, biting her lip when the succubus gives her a pleased smile and steps into her until their chests touch.

"Definitely not," Lauren mumbles, fingers tightening on the succubus' waist as she leans in to kiss her.

The kiss is terrible. 

Well, no - it's actually amazing. She kisses Lauren back just as hard as Lauren does, burying her hands in Lauren's hair, and when Lauren bites at her mouth, her lips part just perfectly enough for Lauren to lick into her mouth with a shiver.

It's terrible because it has Lauren's entire body going into overdrive when she feels nails scratching over her shoulders and the back of her neck as they kiss - and it's terrible because Lauren knows it has to end eventually.

Not yet, though. She still has time.

"That's better," the succubus breathes against her mouth when they part for Lauren to gasp for air. "Not bad, Lauren," she says, and Lauren's heart skips at how her name sounds like in that voice and that accent.

Lauren wonders for a second how she knows her name, but then remembers the enchantment - she'd said it herself when summoning her, so of course she would know it.

"What should I call you?" Lauren asks then, as the succubus starts dragging Lauren's shirt up her torso, fingers scratching against her skin as she does.

"Whatever you want," she replies, and that's not helpful at all. Lauren frowns, slightly, and it doesn't go unnoticed. "You'll have to work for that information," she says then, raising her eyebrows, and Lauren's never been more determined to get a girl's name than when she's being pulled by her hands towards her own bed by a sex demon.

 

*******

 

She doesn't get her name after the first time. The only name Lauren has to gasp out is God's, for now, and she's still trying to catch her breath while the succubus gets up and works on redoing the laces of her corset.

"That was very nice," the succubus says, looking down at Lauren still sprawled out on the bed, with this satisfied little smirk that has Lauren's gut clenching because it's halfway between angelic and devilish.

And then, with a wave of her fingers, she's gone.

 

*******

 

Lauren has to do some shopping before she can summon her again, because her cupboards are pretty much empty, and she'd forgotten to blow out the candles before they burned out last time.

The first time she tries again, she gets a different demon, and she frowns in disappointment. The demon is very offended and disappears in a huff when Lauren awkwardly tries to ask her about this other demon, who’s about, like, this tall? 

The second time, the enchantment doesn't work because a breeze comes in too strong through the window and blows out her candles before she can finish it, so she gives up for the night in frustration.

Third time's the charm, though, and when Lauren finishes the last word of the enchantment, almost familiar on her tongue by now, there  _she_ is, in the middle of Lauren's living room.

She looks around first, poised as assuredly as Lauren remembers from last time, and when her eyes fall on Lauren, the tiny smirk on her lips turns into a wide smile.

"Hello there," she says, and Lauren grins back at her instantly.

"You left before I could get what I wanted last time," Lauren tells her, and gets a chuckle so soft it has her ears prickling in return. "You have different lipstick on," she notes, and the succubus raises her eyebrows.

"Not to your taste?" she asks, with a snap of her fingers, and her lipstick's back to the shade of red from last time rather than the pink she had on just seconds ago.

Lauren laughs, gets close enough to breathe in the scent she still hasn't managed to get out of her sheets. "It really doesn't matter," she says, tugging lightly at the string of the succubus' corset, lacier than the one from last time. "You look sinful either way."

 

*******

 

She doesn't get her name that time, either.

"Well, can I at least get a hint?" Lauren asks as the demon gets dressed beside her bed, grinning when she sees her brush her hair aside and reveal the marks Lauren had left on her skin.

The succubus looks at her for a moment, presses her lips together with an indistinguishable expression that lasts all but a moment before she's looking back down at her clothes, zipping up her skirt.

 "A letter, then?" Lauren presses on, not bothering to cover herself back up even as she notices the succubus trailing her eyes down Lauren's body.

She's silent for a long enough time that Lauren thinks she won't get anything, but when Lauren reaches up to finish lacing her corset for her, the succubus mumbles something, then clears her throat and tries again.

"A," is all she says, and Lauren looks up at her for a moment, then starts smiling.

"A? That's all I get?"

"That's all you get."

"For now," Lauren insists, and she sees something flash in A's eyes at Lauren's cocky grin up at her.

She's gone with a wisp of smoke then, and Lauren tries to count how many more times she can put together the ingredients to summon A before she gets her paycheck for next month's groceries.

 

*******

 

Lauren's pretty sure this is not how she should be making use of the power to summon demons.

Still, though, it's not like she has A's phone number to text her or anything, so she has to make do with what she can.

Her fourth attempt brings her a male demon that gets very displeased at her wanting someone else, and when Lauren mentions it to A the next time she appears, a relieved little  _thank God it's you_  leaving her, she gets scolded for it. Like, massively.

"I can't believe this," A keeps muttering as she scribbles over Lauren's notes for her enchantment while Lauren watches from the couch. She'd forced Lauren to show her what enchantment she's been using, and has been ranting nonstop ever since. "Humans are unbelievable," she says to herself, ignoring Lauren's offended huff. "Here," she says, handing Lauren's notebook back to her. "Next time, use this."

Lauren frowns down at the marks on the page, bright red and seeming to pulse off the page. "What's this for?"

"Just... use it. And if something goes wrong," she adds, tapping a section off on the bottom of the page, "use this.  _Not now_ ," she stresses, when Lauren starts mumbling the words under her breath as she reads.

"Okay," Lauren agrees, figuring there's no use arguing about black magic with a demon.

Closing the notebook, she makes a mental note to look further into it later, and it's then that she notices the frown on A's brow. Lauren blinks, uncertain, itching to smooth that frown over with her fingers, but she holds herself back from reaching towards A to do it. She stays put instead, this indescribable urge to apologize for something nagging at her, because A seems genuinely distressed. 

"Um... I'm sorry?" she says, tentatively, and A looks taken aback for a moment.

"You-" A starts, cutting herself off with a shake of her head, and within a blink she's suddenly straddling Lauren's lap and burying her fingers in Lauren's hair. "Be quiet."

Lauren's very much  _not_ quiet - she probably couldn't be if she tried, and A doesn't seem to resent her for it, grinning down at her when Lauren's trying to catch her breath and blink the stars from beneath her eyelids.

"Not done yet," Lauren gasps, swallows thickly. "Don't go."

"I'm pretty sure you're done," A says, not pulling away as she braces herself to hover above Lauren. "Twice over, actually."

"Well, I'm sure you can do better," Lauren challenges, smirking up at her and running her hands down her back.

She can, and she does.

 

*******

 

**[10:20AM]** _  
Thank you SO MUCH for getting me that book_

**[10:32AM]** _  
do I even want to know_

**[10:37AM]** _  
I'll just say that succubuses definitely don't mind biting._

**[10:38AM]** _  
that was already tmi_

_also i'm pretty sure the plural is succubi_

 

*******

 

Lauren's been trying to keep track of the number of times she's seen A, and she thinks it's around the sixth one when A stops being surprised that Lauren wants to touch her. And she literally always wants to touch her.

A's skin is soft as sin, and running her hands over it affects Lauren more than some of her exes' best efforts. Burying a hand in A's hair and tugging her close for a kiss has her seriously concerned at how hard her heart goes into overdrive, but she can't get enough of it.

A's still surprised when that's  _all_ Lauren wants to do, though, a few times later.

"That's- that's not what I'm here for," she says, grabbing at Lauren's wrist and keeping her hand from moving further down. Lauren's sure she's heard her stutter a total of two times until now, including this one, and the other doesn't count given it was on account of Lauren biting down on her lip.

Lauren pauses, then, doesn't try to move her hand further down as she tilts her head and considers A. Her makeup is considerably lighter today, and Lauren wonders if the flush to her cheeks is real or just blush - maybe some kind of supernatural illusion for Lauren's eyes only. 

"What  _are_ you here for?" Lauren asks curiously, letting her fingertips splay out against A's stomach when her grip on Lauren's wrist loosens at the question.

"For you," A replies immediately, eyes wide as she stares back at her.

Lauren's gut twists unpleasantly in reaction, and she presses her lips together with a furrow of her brow. "Do you even  _want_  to be here?" she asks, abruptly aware of the fact that she really doesn't know the answer.

A hesitates, and Lauren's body has never cooled off faster in her entire life, including that one time her sister had shoved her into a pool during the winter when all Lauren had on was her pajamas.

She pulls away at once, putting some suddenly much needed space between them. "I- I don't think this is right."

A seems stunned, and the look she gives her is damn near offended. " _Excuse_ me?" she exclaims.

"I'm not up for forcing anyone to do stuff they don't want to do," Lauren says, swallowing the dryness in her mouth, and A's eyes flash with what feels a whole lot like anger. The air around them seems to crackle with sudden electricity, and it's an entirely different tension to the one Lauren's used to feeling between them.

"You think any human can force me to do something I don't want to do?" A grits out, and Lauren just stares back at her, the words to the enchantment she uses to summon her ringing on the back of her mind.

A seems to realize what she's thinking, because she breaks their gaze to glance over at the notebook Lauren keeps the enchantment in, and she blanches once she reaches the same conclusion Lauren had.

The last thing Lauren sees before A disappears is the absolute whiteness to her face, and Lauren thinks she's going to throw up.

She doesn't summon her for weeks after that, no matter how many times she comes to her in her dreams at night.

 

*******

 

**[8:34PM]** _  
laurennnnn you promised you'd go with me to this thing_

**[8:40PM]** _  
okay i'm just going to say it_

_youre acting like you just went through a breakup_

_is that what this is about_

**[8:47PM]** _  
No, Camila, it's not._

 

*******

 

Camila's getting on her nerves.

"You're getting on my nerves," Lauren tells her, bluntly, wondering where the best place would be to get some new friends. Preferably some that  _don't_  come over to her place to try to annoy her into doing something other than what she wants to do - which is just lie on her couch and relax, thank you very much.

"Sometimes you need someone to get on your nerves," Camila tells her, poking her temple lightly with a finger until Lauren pulls back with an annoyed huff. 

Camila rolls her eyes and gets up from the couch, rummaging around the living room for something while Lauren scrolls through her phone and wonders if she should order pizza or maybe some Mexican food.

"Okay, come on," Camila says suddenly, pulling Lauren's phone from her hands and dropping Lauren's leather bound notebook on her lap with an expectant look.

"What the hell, Camz," Lauren argues, trying to reach for her phone until Camila puts a hand to her chest and pushes her back.

"I've even offered to go out drinking with you, Lauren, and you wouldn't budge. So, this is it. Go on," she says, looking at her expectantly. "Do your thing. Call her, or whatever."

They stare at each other stubbornly for a few moments, until Camila's eyes soften and turn pleading, and Lauren has to look away. "It's not  _calling_ ," Lauren mumbles under her breath, flicking through the pages until she finds the one with A's enchantment written on it.

She stares down at A's cursive on the notebook, traces it with her fingertips until Camila plops down onto the couch next to her and looks over her shoulder curiously. "So, uh... how does this work, exactly?"

"Well," Lauren breathes. "Now we just summon her."

Lauren points Camila to the cheat sheet she'd written on the back of the page with the list of things she needs for the ritual, and watches not without amusement as Camila helps arrange everything with an incredibly somber expression.

"First time summoning demonic forces, I see," Lauren quips, and Camila ignores her as she holds her tongue between her teeth and triple checks the positioning of the items in the middle of Lauren's living room floor. "Alright, that's it. Come here."

She grabs the notebook back from Camila and takes a shaky breath, something that feels an awful lot like butterflies fluttering in her stomach, though she adamantly refuses to call it that.

It's just. It's been weeks, and she has no idea what she'll say once A's there. No idea what she  _wants_  to say. Even worse, she's technically going against what she herself had said - forcing A to do something she doesn't want to do by summoning her.

She needs to know, though. She needs to know for sure if it was all  _just that_ \- just something they'd acted on out of some sick sense of obligation and lust under magic, or something.

Camila touches her knee lightly, and Lauren smiles shakily at her before running her hands over the notebook to smooth the creases on the pages, and starting to read the words out loud.

She's not sure where she goes wrong.

She knows, though, instantly, as soon as she's done reading the enchantment, that something's not right. It's something in the air, a shift that has the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end and her breathing going shallow.

"Uh, Lauren," Camila whispers, her hand tightening on Lauren's knee as the room seems to grow darker around the edges, the air growing colder. "Is this how it's supposed to go?" she asks, and her hesitancy makes it clear that she knows, too, somehow.

"No," Lauren chokes out, something akin to panic starting to grip at her throat as the room starts to get visibly darker around them. "No, it's not.  _Fuck_."

She tries to read the enchantment again, hurriedly, voice failing her halfway through and making her start over, and there is a sense of urgency tickling the back of her neck as she finishes, waits for something to happen as her temples throb with the notion that there's not enough time-

It's then that she feels it.

She couldn't describe it if she tried. She just knows, with an absolute certainty lodged heavy in her throat, that there's something in the apartment - and that that something is not A. 

Lauren freezes in her spot, tries to listen for something, anything that could pinpoint  _what'_ s there and  _where_ it is, but all she hears is her own ragged breaths over Camila's.

It's when she feels something cold, barely a tickle, brush by her ankle, that she snaps into action. "Get up," she whispers, urgently. "Camila,  _move_ ," she hisses, grabbing her arm when she does nothing but stare back at her, wide-eyed.

She swears she hears a malicious chuckle right by her ear, and her heart leaps into her throat as she shoves Camila into her bedroom and shuts the door, pressing herself against it as her fingers fumble with the lock.

The air is less cold in there, but only just barely, and when Lauren finally gets the lock to turn, she spins around to see Camila hurrying into her closet.

Lauren only realizes she still has the notebook clutched tightly in her hand once she's sat beside Camila on the floor, trying to catch her breath and curling an arm around her when Camila huddles into her, shaking.

A loud bang sounds when the bedroom door slams open violently, and they both jump, inching their way further back into the closet, burrowing in between Lauren's clothes until there's no more room and they're left to press their backs to the cold wall.

"Shit," Lauren mutters into Camila's hair as the girl starts mumbling  _oh my God oh my God oh my God_  into Lauren's chest.

She tries desperately to think of something, anything she's ever discussed with A that could help, but all that rings through her mind as the air grows colder around them is Mani's voice -  _you have no idea what you're messing around with_.

The closet door starts creaking open, and Lauren can see her breath condensing before her in the air as Camila goes quiet with panic.

It's not a conscious decision - something deep in her core gets her moving before she realizes it, unwrapping Camila's arms from her waist and surging up and out of the closet before Camila can stop her, telling her to stay there.

She doesn't know what she'll find as she flies out of the closet and slams the closet door behind herself, she just knows she'd take a bullet for that girl in there, and she will not have her hurt if she can help it.

The air is frigid, now, every light in the room snuffed out, and Lauren shudders at the deep feeling of  _wrong_  that the silent darkness around her emanates - it seems that the only thing worse than finding some sort of hellish monster in her room is finding nothing at all.

As she stands there clutching the notebook, unease momentarily rooting her to the spot, whatever is about to discover Camila in the closet seems to pause, and the back of Lauren’s neck begins to prickle with the sensation that she's being watched.

That's when her body kicks into gear again, A's words suddenly echoing in her head -  _if something goes wrong, use this_  - and she starts to flip through her notebook with stiff, shaky hands.

She won't fuck up what might be her only chance to save Camila, Lauren tells herself stubbornly, scanning the words scribbled in red at the bottom of the page she's on. Miraculously, when she starts reading them aloud, she doesn't trip up on any stray syllables, even as she starts to mutter them faster and faster under her breath. In fact, she's nearly done when her unwelcome guest seems to catch on to what she's doing.

The last word of the enchantment, which her brain helpfully informs her is Latin for "temptation", comes out of Lauren in a hoarse shout as an icy grasp abruptly rips the notebook out of her hands and tosses her against a wall.

She grits her teeth, managing to get herself to sit up through the insistent pain flaring in her back, but she can feel the  _thing_  advancing on her, and her eyes flutter shut as a numbing chill starts spreading through her body.

At this point, Lauren's sure enough of her imminent death that the warm hand grabbing at her shoulder and the following rush of warm air seem to be a herald of her first moments in the great beyond. Needless to say, the grimy hallway outside her apartment door is definitely not what she expects to see when she opens her eyes.

"You need to leave," a familiar voice says from behind her, and Lauren nearly loses her balance as she whips around, tearing free of the hold on her only to be confronted with- oh.

"Did you hear me?" A demands, looking uncharacteristically frantic, "you need to leave  _now,_ " and Lauren stares at her dumbly for a second before being hit with the realization of what, no,  _who_  is conspicuously absent here.

"Camila," Lauren gasps, grabbing at A's shoulders, "she's still in there," she says urgently, but A just frowns at her, confused.

"Who-"

"My, my-" Lauren feels panic constricting her throat as she stops to suck in a shaky breath. "My  _friend_ ," she manages, "that thing is going to kill her, you need to get her out of there, please, you-"

"Let me-"

"Oh God, she's going to die-"

"Just-"

"It's gonna kill her and it'll all be my fault-"

"I'll deal with it!" A roars, stunning Lauren into silence, and she's throwing open the door and storming into the apartment before Lauren gets a chance to respond. Lauren almost considers staying in the relative safety outside, before she thinks of Camila and shakes her head as she follows A back in.

(She wonders if she'd imagined seeing A's eyes bleeding into pools of black, like spreading ink, and decides not to think about it too much.)

The air is noticeably colder inside - cold enough that there's a paper-thin layer of frost covering everything in the room, which Lauren nearly doesn't notice until she sees it glittering in the light flooding in from the hallway.

The muffled sound of conversation steals her attention from the sight, and apprehension settles low and heavy in her gut as she shuffles towards her bedroom.

"-  _not yours to take_ ," she hears A saying, and there's a grating, unpleasant shriek in response that Lauren immediately wishes she hadn't heard, skin crawling at the sound.

" _Enough arguing,_ " A sighs, and the tone of her voice tells Lauren she shouldn't go into that room. " _You're going to leave,_ " A orders, interrupting whatever response was about to come. Whatever powers of persuasion she has must be on at full blast - Lauren finds herself compelled to turn tail and bolt out of her own apartment, and she's not even in the same room.

" _You won't bother them again,_ " A continues, " _and if you do, I'll personally see that there are consequences._   _Are we clear?_ "

There's something that sounds like a heavy sigh after that, the sound sending shivers down Lauren's spine, and then Lauren's blinking stars out of her eyes as all the lights in the apartment flicker on simultaneously.

She stands there on shaky legs for a few seconds, feeling the knot of fear in her gut slowly loosen as the air warms around her, the sinister presence of whatever thing she'd summoned fading away with it.

"Camila," Lauren calls, urgently, bracing herself against the wall as she shuffles over to her room. She peers in, and suddenly all she sees is the closet door, partially open, almost immediately losing her balance as she scrambles to get to Camila.

When she sees her friend slumped against the far wall of the closet, eyes shut and complexion pale, Lauren's heart leaps into her throat before A says, crossly, "your friend is going to be fine."

"Camz," Lauren calls, kneeling beside her and cupping her cheeks gently, urging her to open her eyes. "Come on, Camila..."

Camila's barely blinked her eyes open and Lauren's chest already feels like it's giving out on her as she lets out the most relieved breath of her life, hugging Camila close to herself as her heart hammers in her chest. "Woah there," Camila mumbles into her hair, hands coming up to rest on Lauren's back lightly.

"Are you okay?" Lauren asks, pulling back slightly to run her hands over Camila's face, checking her over worriedly. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I think so," Camila notes, clutching Lauren's hands tightly as they both get up. She wobbles slightly on her feet, and Lauren's heart twists painfully.

"I'm so sorry." Lauren's eyes burn for a moment with tears threatening to fall, and Camila instantly cups her cheeks with a small, comforting smile.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay," she notes, before pulling Lauren in for another hug. "Don't think I'm not mad at you for running out there like a madwoman, though. And we should probably not mention this to Mani either, yeah?"

Lauren chuckles wetly into her shoulder before forcing herself to breathe in and pull herself together. She's pulling back from the hug when she notices Camila looking over her shoulder with a curious expression.

"Is that her?" Camila asks in a whisper, and Lauren turns around to find A watching them with a guarded expression.

"Yeah," Lauren breathes out. "Thank you," she tells A, Camila's hand clutched tightly in hers, and A's lips quirk briefly, but she doesn't say anything. Lauren's stomach sinks, because she can add  _that_  to the list of things she's screwed up today.

"For real," Camila adds. "You were badass." 

Lauren knows her, though, and she knows Camila's  _I'm trying to be cool when I am definitely not_  voice, so she turns back to her. "Camz, you want me to take you home? Or stay here? Whatever you want, babe."

"Take me home?" Camila asks, biting her lip and glancing at A nervously, and Lauren runs her thumb over Camila's knuckles soothingly.

"Of course. Go get your stuff," Lauren says, and Camila waves awkwardly at A before walking out of the room slowly, looking out into the hallway before stepping out fully, Lauren's eyes following her as she goes.

"You care about her very much," A notes then, and Lauren's eyes snap back to her. She's still standing rigidly in the same place, and Lauren for once can't put a finger on the energy coming from her.

"I do," she answers simply enough.  _I would die for her_ , is what she doesn't say, but she's pretty sure A knows by now. "Thank you," she says again, trying to convey just how much she means it, stepping closer but hesitating when she goes to reach out for her. She lets the hand she was going to rest on A's arm fall back limply to her side instead, suddenly all too aware of the point where they'd left off last time. "You- I know you didn't have to do that."

A tilts her head at her, then, like she's trying to figure her out, and her voice is soft when she replies. "I did."

Lauren doesn't know what to say to that, but she feels herself shiver at the look in A's eyes - something about it feels significant, and Lauren desperately wants to hug her. Camila's voice rings out from the living room then, calling for Lauren hesitantly, and their gaze breaks.

She's walked so far as the bedroom door before she stops. She can't leave without doing  _something -_ she's just saved their lives, and Lauren doesn't know the next time she'll see her.

The thought is enough to have her turning back around and walking over to A decidedly, gripping her wrist gently as she leans in to brush her lips against her cheek. She wants to say so much, ask so many questions - will she stay, can Lauren summon her again, what did she mean by  _I did_. "Thank you," she whispers instead, because she feels entirely unworthy of asking any questions right now.

She sees something that looks an awful lot like shock in A's expression when she glances at Lauren before she lets go of her wrist and goes to take Camila home.

 

*******

 

Lauren's probably never felt more exhausted than when she steps back into her apartment later, closing the door behind herself and resting against it as she closes her eyes.

She'd offered to stay over at Camila's, because she wanted -  _needed_  - to make sure she was really okay, but Camila had asked, timidly, to be alone, reassuring her that Dinah would be home soon so Lauren wouldn't worry.

She's still worried, of course. How could she not be? Just standing there with her eyes closed has her shivering as she thinks back to shoving Camila into the closet to try to keep her away from whatever Lauren had stupidly summoned, remembering the absolute paleness to Camila's face when she'd found her in there nearly passed out.

"Fucking stupid," she mutters to herself with a sigh. If it hadn't been for A- she gulps, forces herself not to think of what could have happened.

Shivering, Lauren blinks her eyes open as she remembers the roar of A's voice when she'd gone after the thing in Lauren's apartment - it was unlike anything Lauren had heard from her before, and it's yet another stark reminder of the unfamiliar territory she's found herself in.

It's odd looking around her apartment now - she flicks the light on, and there's absolutely no evidence of what had happened earlier. There's no sign of the frost that had covered her furniture, and she can't see her breath condensing before her - gone is the feeling of something breathing down her neck, and the tightness in her chest eases little by little as she steps out of her shoes.

She hesitates before stepping into her room, however.

She's not sure what it is that makes her pause - this small twinge in her chest or the sudden dryness to her mouth, or maybe even something in the very air, but when she pushes the door open to find A sitting on her bed, her only reaction is a small nervous gulp.

Well - that, and the immediate skip in her heartbeat at the realization that she'd  _stayed_. 

A's looking down at her hands in her lap, and she shows no reaction to Lauren walking into the room other than wringing her hands tightly together.

"Hi," Lauren tries to say, but her voice cracks halfway through, and she's left to stand before A uncertainly, pressing her lips together as she waits for something, her gut twisting anxiously at the tense silence that follows.

A looks up at her eventually, gaze roaming over Lauren's face before she pats the spot beside her on the bed, waiting for Lauren to sit down, knee pressing into her thigh, before she says anything.

"Ally," is what she says, and Lauren frowns in confusion, leaning in closer with an inquisitive murmur to try to hear her better. "Allyson, I mean."

"Allyson?"

"Ally, really. My name. You can... You can call me Ally."

Lauren blinks at her in surprise for a few moments, a slow smile curving her lips as the realization starts sinking in. "Ally?"

A -  _Ally_  nods mutely, looking at Lauren with something that looks oddly like hesitation in her eyes.

"Ally," Lauren mutters again, and laughter bubbles up out of her before she can stop it. "That- that's not at all what I was expecting. I- I mean-"

She's regularly summoned a succubus from the nether for sex for the last lord knows how many weeks - the same succubus who'd just saved Lauren and her best friend's lives from a demonic force today, and she's called  _Ally_.

Lauren's laughter turns slightly hysterical then, because she cannot believe this is her life. Ally goes from shaking her head amusedly at her to gripping her knee with a small frown, and the next thing Lauren knows, she's burying her face into the curve of Ally's shoulder as her laughter turns into shaky hiccups of breath as she cries.

 

*******

 

Ally hasn't left in two days since what Lauren has started to refer in her mind as "the incident". (Camila calls it the "nearpocalypse", which is a slight exaggeration, to put it mildly.)

Like, she's  _left,_  Lauren thinks. She's not there when Lauren goes to sleep and she's not there when she wakes up, but she's there every day without Lauren summoning her to force Lauren to sit down and practice her enchantment.

Lauren doesn't mind it - she never ever wants to mess up like she had again, and Ally's focused expression as she has Lauren drag out the syllables on each word of the enchantment to make sure she's doing it right is oddly reassuring.

They intersperse each word of the enchantment with other random words, to make sure Lauren's not actually saying any enchantments. Lauren's become much more well versed in the Latin cardinal numbers than she ever thought she would be, because when Ally had said "maybe we should do that in English" with a doubtful expression when they tried counting between words, Lauren's stubbornness had kicked in.

She only mildly regrets it when she realizes not  _everything_  in Latin is that similar to Spanish, but soon enough Ally helps her get a rhythm going in a near melody, and she can now count down the beats between each syllable in her mind with near ease.

She doesn't ask Ally how come she's there without Lauren summoning her, because there's this decisiveness to how they're avoiding the topic, but it's two days later and Lauren has work the next morning. Ally is sitting before her on her bed with a smile and a hand on Lauren's knee as she reminds her how to say  _eighteen_  in Latin yet again, and...

It's undeniable how Ally's mere presence has Lauren's body reacting, and she's pretty sure that it has something to do with the whole  _sex and lust demon_  thing, but... the tingles from Ally's fingers on her knee, and the warmth in her chest from Ally's smile... It can't be just from that, and she needs Ally to  _know_  that. She needs Ally to know it before she leaves tonight, and before Lauren's left unsure if she'll come back.

When Lauren's done pronouncing  _duodēvīgintī_ again and Ally approves of it with a small smile, Lauren places her hand on top of Ally's on her knee and hesitates. "Listen, Ally," she mutters, running her fingertips lightly over Ally's knuckles and noting the goosebumps that follow her touch.

She can nearly feel it in the air when Ally quiets down - she stills completely and all Lauren can hear is her own nervous breaths as she tries to work out what she wants to say.

"I just. Thank you for doing this," she says, finally getting herself to look back up at Ally. "And obviously for what you did. And I just wanted to... I want you to know that I want to actually use your enchantment again." Ally presses her lips together then, tightening her grip on Lauren's knee and sliding closer to her on the bed. "I want you here again, and not because I screwed something up."

"That's good," Ally whispers, voice low as she slides her hand from under Lauren's on her knee to reach for her waist. "I'd like that."

And just like that, the tension in Lauren's body uncoils, the uncertainty about why exactly Ally's been spending all this time teaching Lauren the enchantments after the fight they'd had all those weeks back slowly ebbing away. "You would?" she presses, because she needs to be  _sure_.

"I very much would," is Ally's response, and Lauren's done pressing when Ally leans in, gaze fixed to Lauren's mouth.

Lauren's certainly done resisting how on edge her body's been in Ally's presence these past couple of days as well when Ally glances up at her and kisses her firmly. She parts her lips under Ally's with a sigh, clutching at her shoulders as she lets herself be guided back down onto the bed and be shown just how much Ally wants her.

 

*******

 

**[5:48PM]** _  
lemme guess: lauser's too busy having freaky sex with the demon to come hang out_

**[6:12PM]** _  
Her name is Ally_

_And I said I'm not coming because I have to be up early tomorrow for work._

**[6:13PM]** _**  
** ok, correction:_

_lauser's too busy having sex with ALLY to come_

**[6:17PM]** _  
Trust me, I'd be doing plenty of coming if that were the case_ :)

**[6:19PM]** _**  
** okay, ew_

 

*******

 

Lauren stretches her back with a sated sigh as she lies on the bed beside Ally, a content smile on her lips as she looks over at Ally lying on her back.

She feels content and relaxed, and it's more than what a few good orgasms cause. It's about Ally and the smile she gives when Lauren runs her fingertips lazily over her skin, the tender way she looks back at her when Lauren presses in closer and brushes her lips against the curve of Ally's shoulder in a burst of affection.

She wants to relax into her and delay the inevitable - soon enough Ally's probably going to get up and get dressed, and Lauren will be left alone between warm sheets once she disappears, no matter how much she stalls her departure with kisses.

It's Ally who leans in to kiss her now, and Lauren sighs into it as she tightens her grip on the curve of her waist. When they part, Lauren doesn't move back, not ready yet to give her enough space to leave. 

“Do you wanna, uh.” Lauren shrugs, aims to sound nonchalant as possible, figuring it'll increase her chances of success. “Watch something, maybe? I could go for a cuddle.”

“What,” Ally says, and the startled look on her face confirms Lauren’s suspicions that Ally has absolutely been missing out on this crucial aspect of human interaction.

“Alright,” Lauren decides then, resolutely, “we’re doing this.” 

And just like that, it’s happening. 

Surprisingly enough, Ally doesn't put up much of a fight, trailing after Lauren and letting her sit her down on the couch and throw an arm around her shoulders while she switches on the TV.

“I don’t...” Ally frowns at nothing in particular, shifting a little uncomfortably in her position next to Lauren. “I’m not very used to this.”

“This...?” Lauren repeats, glancing over at her quizzically.

“I mean.” Ally gestures vaguely with her hand. “This isn't generally a thing that happens when I’m, um. On call.”

“Oh,” is all Lauren says, before “wait, really?” She narrows her eyes skeptically. “A hundred years of freaky hookups and none of them wanted any, like, aftercare or something?”

“You’d be surprised,” Ally sighs, before muttering something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like “ _more than a hundred_ ".

“Well, uhm.” Lauren furrows her eyebrows as she tries to think of something helpful to say, adjusting her arm more comfortably over Ally's shoulders. “I don’t really have pointers for doing this, you know, it’s always kind of been a... a human thing?” She winces at the awkward phrasing, and pulls Ally closer, trying to get her to relax. “Just... melt with it, I guess.”

Lauren’s not even sure what “it” is exactly, but Ally seems to understand, making a thoughtful sound as she studies the side of Lauren’s face.

Everything ends up going smoothly from there, fueling Lauren’s growing sense of accomplishment as Ally gradually relaxes into her, wrapping a tentative arm around Lauren’s waist and letting Lauren run her fingers distractedly through her hair.

(She learns fast, Lauren notes, biting back a smile while the MythBusters start talking about the logistics of death rays on screen.) 

It’s then that Lauren notices a strange sound coming from next to her, one she can actually  _feel_  with their proximity. It starts with a quiet humming, but soon deepens into a low rumble, reverberating in Ally’s chest like-

“Ally.” Lauren stares down at the top of Ally’s head, because this can’t possibly be happening right now.  “Are you...  _purring_? Like- like what cats-”

“I’m– no!” Ally replies way too quickly, the noise fading abruptly. “I didn't- I wasn't-”

Lauren’s eyes widen with glee as Ally stammers her way around her denial, because that’s all the confirmation she needs. 

“Oh my God, you  _were_!Aw,” she coos with a grin. She runs her fingertips lightly over Ally’s spine, just between her shoulder blades, watching Ally closely for her reaction. “It's okay, I think it's cute,” she says, scratching lightly with her fingers then, and Ally almost seems like she's choking as she tries and fails to restrain another low, content sound.

“Unbelievable,” Ally grumbles into Lauren's neck once she catches her breath, and Lauren brings a hand up to rest curiously on Ally’s cheek.

“You’re buzzing,” Lauren observes, delighted, feeling the vibrations thrumming through Ally’s skin, as she trails her fingers down to scratch at the back of Ally's neck lightly.

Ally groans, mutters a  _why are you embarrassing me_  into Lauren's shoulder that Lauren happily ignores as she rests her cheek to the top of Ally's head and continues her ministrations.

 

*******

 

Lauren pads into the kitchen barefoot, rubbing sleep out of her eyes with a yawn. She shivers lightly from the morning air hitting her bare legs, the t-shirt she'd thrown on not nearly enough to classify as clothing, but doesn't bother going back to her bedroom to cover herself.

Going back to the bedroom would mean going back to the sight of Ally still asleep on her bed, and she's not sure she'd be able to resist burrowing in next to her again.

It'd already taken her long enough to get out of bed in the first place - the only thing that had managed to make her get a move on was the persistent grumble from her stomach reminding her that she hadn't had any food since early last night.

She still can't quite believe she'd gotten to wake up to the sight of Ally sleeping soundly before her on her bed.

She'd already been startled enough last night to find Ally nearly dozing off against her on the couch, chest just barely rumbling against Lauren on each purring exhale, and Ally hadn't said a word against it when Lauren had urged her to bed.

Lauren remembers the soft murmur of Ally's voice when she'd replied to Lauren's awkward "do you sleep" with a tired "I can", and she remembers throwing an arm over Ally's waist and pressing in close before falling asleep - she remembers the warm feeling threatening to burst from her chest when Ally had pressed back into her, and just thinking of it has her giving a dopey smile.

As she stares into the fridge now, she realizes she has no idea if Ally eats. Like, as in actual food, rather than... well. She figures she'll find out when Ally gets up, so she might as well go ahead with making some of the pancakes she's craving.

She's halfway through eating her pancakes when Ally walks into the kitchen - and Lauren finds she really, really enjoys the sight of Ally wearing Lauren's clothes. Even if it's literally just the shorts and t-shirt Lauren had strewn over her chair in her bedroom, it instantly has her smiling up at her and beckoning her over.

"What are you doing?" Ally asks once she's pressed into Lauren's side, and Lauren forces herself to swallow before replying.

"Eating," she answers simply enough. "Do you want some?" she asks then, offering Ally a piece of her syrup dipped pancake with her fork.

Ally looks from the piece of pancake to Lauren's face dubiously for a few moments, like she's trying to figure out if Lauren's playing a trick on her, and Lauren rolls her eyes.

"Just- try it."

"Okay," Ally agrees hesitantly, grabbing Lauren's hand and bringing the fork close enough for her to take the pancake into her mouth.

Lauren doesn't mean to laugh, she honestly doesn't - but like, the look on Ally's face the moment she starts chewing is probably the best thing she's ever seen. Ally immediately goes wide eyed, staring back at Lauren in shock as she keeps chewing slowly, and when Lauren raises her eyebrows at her, Ally swallows and looks down at Lauren's plate. "What  _is_ that?" she asks in wonder, and Lauren laughs again. "That's amazing."

"I'm glad you like it. Come on, sit. I'll get you some juice too."

Ally looks positively giddy when she sits by the table and watches as Lauren pushes the plate she'd been using in front of Ally and puts more syrup onto it. From then on, Ally grabs a fork and stares at it for a moment before digging into the pancakes like she'd been starved half to death - Lauren watches in awe, slowly offering her the cup of orange juice she'd filled, letting out an unintentional snort of laughter when Ally chugs it down in two seconds flat.

"Uh. Do you want more?" Lauren asks when Ally's finished wolfing down everything Lauren had on her plate and is licking the syrup from her lips.

The surprised look Ally gives her is enough to have her chuckling and shaking her head, heading over to the stove to grab more of the pancake batter she'd put aside. 

"What are you doing now?" Ally asks, coming over to try to look over her shoulder as Lauren grabs another plate to put the pancakes onto.

"Oh come on, you must've seen people  _cook_  before," Lauren says with a frown.

"I guess," Ally replies with a shrug. "Are you making more?"

"Yeah. I'd ask you how many you want, but I have a feeling you'd scarf down a hundred of these if you could."

Ally doesn't disagree, and she hovers around curiously as Lauren gets a few more pancakes ready - Lauren ponders briefly over making an omelet or something as well, but she thinks she might've created a monster already, so it's better to go slow before her fridge goes empty.

It's somewhere between when she's humming as she finishes the last pancake and the moment Ally presses in against her back softly, nose against her shoulder, that Lauren's hit with how perfect this feels. She does  _not_  lose her breath when she turns off the stove and puts her hand over Ally's where it rests on her hip, and especially not when she can feel the smile Ally presses against her shoulder.

She doesn't, but she's definitely hit with the sudden realization that this is the kind of relationship she's never had - the one she suddenly very much  _wants_. The one she realizes she kind of  _has_  when they sit by the table again and Ally presses her feet to Lauren's ankles as they share the rest of the food.

 

*******

 

Lauren makes a mental note later, when she's barely holding onto the kitchen counter with Ally knelt between her legs coaxing a second orgasm out of her, that she  _really_  needs to cook more for Ally if this is the way she shows her appreciation.

 

*******

 

**[9:52AM]** _  
So. I think I have a girlfriend._

**[9:54AM]** _  
you think?_

**[9:57AM]** _  
I think I definitely do._

**[10:01AM]** _  
well I'm glad you've come to that realization_

_tell Ally I said hi_

 

*******

 

Lauren's never seen Ally this pale before. 

Ally was already there when Lauren got home from work. When Lauren flicks the lights on, there she is, sitting on the couch wearing nothing but a shirt large enough on her to come down to the tops of her thighs - Lauren recognizes it vaguely as a shirt she'd bought at a concert years ago.

"Hey," Lauren greets with a smile, kicking off her shoes and walking around the couch, frowning when she notices how blown Ally's eyes are when she looks back at her slowly. 

Her smile drops when she takes note of Ally's skin, bare and pale, and of how her hair sticks to her forehead. She leans over and reaches her hand out for Ally's face, feeling how clammy her skin is to the touch, gut sinking when all Ally does is blink owlishly back at her with dark, opaque eyes.

"Ally," she mutters, shakily. "What's going on?"

Ally turns her face into her touch and reaches her hands up to grip at Lauren's wrist, closing her eyes and breathing heavily but not responding in any way other than making a small noise from the back of her throat.

"Let me get you some water," Lauren croaks out when she notices how dry Ally's lips are, pulling back from her hesitantly and getting up so she can grab a glass from the kitchen. 

Her heart hammers in her chest as she bangs around the cupboards, slightly disoriented in her concern - she has no idea what's happening, and Ally seems lost to the world in a way she's never seen before.

She's desperately trying to calm down as she walks back into the living room with the glass held tight in her hands, and when she kneels before Ally and offers her the glass, Ally looks at it blankly. She looks sweaty, and Lauren presses the rim of the glass to her lips. 

"Come on, just-" Lauren stammers, gripping one of Ally's thighs with a hand as she gets her to drink the water slowly.

Some of it dribbles down Ally's chin, but she gulps obediently until the glass is empty and Lauren lowers it back down. She licks her lips slowly then, blinking repeatedly back at her as Lauren grips her knees and waits for something.

"That's nice," Ally croaks out, like she's never had water before, and it's in moments like these that Lauren's forced to remember that they're quite literally from different worlds.

"Do you want more?" Lauren asks, but Ally shakes her head slowly and rests a hand on Lauren's shoulder, distracted.

"You're scaring me," Lauren says, reaching up to cup Ally's face worriedly and trying to get her to look at her. "Tell me what you need?"

Ally raises her gaze and looks back at her then, fixedly, her irises near pitch black, more attentive than she's been ever since Lauren had first walked into the apartment. Her fingers on Lauren's shoulder tighten hard enough to hurt, and when Lauren's face scrunches up with a hiss of pain, her grip instantly relaxes. 

"I'm-" Ally starts, stutters, then grabs Lauren's face and pulls her into her until their lips are crashing together.

Lauren gasps into the kiss, Ally breathing hotly into her mouth and causing all too familiar shivers to spread down the back of Lauren’s neck with her closeness. Worry still nags at the back of Lauren's mind, though, and she uses the shred of willpower she has left with Ally kissing her like that to pull back. 

"Wait, Ally-"

They're both breathing heavily as Lauren braces her hands against Ally's chest and takes in Ally's suddenly noticeably flushed cheeks. Something curls low in Lauren's gut at the stark difference in the spark of her eyes from what feels like seconds ago, and Ally drags her thumbs over Lauren's cheeks, stares down at her mouth. 

"This," she says, resolutely, and seems almost awed as she drags her gaze up to Lauren's eyes. "This is what I need."

And it's not like Lauren can usually resist Ally - not with the way the touch of her fingertips is enough to make Lauren's entire body flush, or how the hush of her voice by her ear always has her reacting so strongly her back arches at the sound. 

And now, with Ally looking at her like  _that_ , like she's just figured out some intrinsic truth to the universe, all she can do is move up and press their lips together again, moving until she's sitting on Ally's lap, thighs straddling her hips.

It's like Ally comes alive under her touch, and Lauren has to press her fingers to her cheeks to make sure the warmth in them is real, press her mouth to her neck to taste at the spot where her pulse hammers strong, and her own heart finally settles in her chest at it, recovers from the fright and switches into a whole different gear of overdrive as Ally unzips Lauren's jeans and works her hand beneath them. 

"Ally," she gasps, pressing her forehead to her temple and breathing harshly as she grinds down into her.

"I need this," Ally murmurs, almost like a confession, working her hand as best as possible in the tight space of Lauren's jeans. "Do- do you need this, too?" she asks, with a twinge in her voice that sounds as desperate as the grind of Lauren's hips feels.

"Yes," Lauren gasps, nodding with eyes clenched shut as Ally works the pressure in her higher with her fingertips. "Yes, please, Ally-"

Ally searches for her mouth then, and Lauren kisses her back sloppily, breathing heavily into her mouth as her fingers tighten where she clutches Ally's shoulders, pulling back to gasp out the moan that rips itself from her throat when pleasure bursts behind her eyelids and has her thighs trembling.

She doesn't have to pull Ally's hand away when it gets to be too much - Ally senses it, pulls her hand from inside her pants and hums when Lauren wraps her arms around her shoulders and buries her face into the curve of her neck as she hugs her and works on catching her breath.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," Lauren murmurs, lips brushing warm against Ally's skin, and Ally runs her hands over her back soothingly, her touch as warm as it has always been rather than cold and detached.

 

*******

 

It's only later, when they're tucked tightly together in Lauren's bed, that Lauren convinces herself she really does want to do know.

See, they have a pact: don't ask questions you don't truly want the answer for.

It's worked for them so far, and when Lauren has her cheek resting on Ally's shoulder and nose brushing lightly against her neck, breathing her in while running lazy fingers over Ally's ribs, she decides she does wants to know. Feels she  _should_  know.

"Is it... Was it a..." she pauses, trails her fingers in circles over the jut of Ally's hipbone. "A demon thing?"

Ally's hand stills where it has been running over the low of her back, and she doesn't ask her what she means. Her voice is calm and even when she responds, a clear sign that Lauren should tread carefully in this conversation. "It's a succubus thing, yes."

"Tell me," Lauren prompts, props herself up onto an elbow so she can look at Ally's profile while Ally stares up at the ceiling.

Ally seems to mull over her words as she lies on her back and crosses her ankles, pursing her lips and emphatically not looking back at Lauren. Lauren doesn't miss the slight upwards twitch to Ally's lips when she presses herself in close and throws a leg over hers to get her to relax.

"A succubus feeds on," Ally pauses, seems to regret her choice of words, but trudges on, "on sex, basically. Going without it is hard, it's... it's draining. It's what I imagine humans go through when they starve."

Lauren nods, splays her fingers over the curve of Ally's stomach and chews on her own lip as she considers it. "Is that what you meant when you said you... needed it?"

Ally turns her face towards her then, trails her eyes over Lauren's face and gives her a smile that seems unintentional in its softness. "That, too."

Lauren smiles back, promptly, because she can't ever will herself not to when Ally turns a smile her way. Ally hooks a finger under Lauren's chin then, urging her closer, and Lauren lets herself be pulled in willingly, eyes drifting shut when their lips meet in a soft kiss.

"This?" Ally murmurs against Lauren's lips, breath warm against hers before kissing her again slowly. When she pulls back, her eyes are dark, and her grip on Lauren's chin loosens. "Has never been enough. It hasn't, but..."

Ally pauses, and the moment feels heavy and significant in Lauren's chest as she holds her breath and waits for what's coming.

"It's almost enough with you," Ally says, like she's apologizing for something - for not being able to say it's enough, maybe. It still robs Lauren of her breath, though, has her smiling into the next kiss.

The kiss is shorter than she would've liked, though, because Ally cups her cheeks and looks into her eyes with a somber expression. "I need sex, Lauren. I don't need  _you_." 

Lauren waits, licks her lips nervously, because the way Ally's looking at her is enough for her to know there's more.

"I- I don't need you, but I want you," Ally whispers, and her vulnerable look has a heavy thud echoing in Lauren's chest. "Do you get that? I want  _you_."

"I want you, too."

 

*******

 

"Isn't that kind of fucked up, though?" Normani asks around a spoonful of ice cream as they laze around Camila and Dinah's apartment. "Like, being with someone who  _needs_  sex?"

"Stop. Swallow your food," Lauren comments, pointing a spoon her way. "And, no? It's not like I don't need it too," she says with an impish grin, earning a pointed kick in the shin in response.

"What happens if you're not in the mood though? She'd just, like,  _die_?" asks Dinah from where she's sat on the floor flipping through the Netflix catalog on the TV.

"Well," Lauren mutters, gesturing to Camila on the other end of the couch for the tub of ice cream until she hands it over begrudgingly. "We kinda have a deal..."

"Oh no, don't tell me-" Normani starts, and Lauren carries on as if she hadn't said anything.

"She can hook up with other people if it comes to that. We just agreed she had to let me know about it," Lauren says, trying to get the melted ice cream from the corners of the tub with her spoon despite Camila nudging her thigh with a foot and asking her to let her have it. "Potentially in details," she adds then, grinning, and gets a loud groan from Mani in return.

"Can't she just, like," Camila starts, pausing awkwardly and making a gesture with her hand. "You know. Herself?"

"Oh, we tried that."

"Is someone in this room as  _not_  interested in Lauren's weird sex life with a demon as I am?" Normani asks with a hint of anguish in her voice.

"Nope, no way," Dinah answers simply enough, giving up on finding something to watch and reaching back to give Camila the remote. "I wanna hear all about it."

"Doesn't work like that, though. It's gotta be with someone else, I guess," Lauren says, stretching her arms lazily behind herself after Camila grabs the nearly finished tub from her hands. "Not that I'm complaining."

 

*******

 

"Oh, fuck," Lauren breathes out, clutching at the back of the couch with one hand, grinding down into Ally's mouth slowly as she straddles her face on the couch.

Ally clutches to Lauren’s thighs where they bracket her face, helping guide Lauren’s movements and letting out this low hum against her that has Lauren shivering down to her toes as her mouth drops open in a silent gasp.

Lauren already feels herself dangerously close to her next orgasm, forcing her eyes back open to looking down to find Ally looking up at her from in between her thighs with dark eyes. “Fuck, just like that,” Lauren mutters under her breath, letting go of the back of the couch to reach down to bury her fingers in Ally’s hair and hold her tight against her as her hips buck down.

It’s precisely when she’s leaning forward to brace herself against the armrest of the couch, thighs starting to tremble, that the door to the apartment is shoved open suddenly, and about three simultaneous screams ring out.

"Oh my  _God_! Go back, Dinah, go back-"

Lauren's not sure how it happens, but she loses her balance somewhere between screaming at Camila and Dinah's sudden presence on her doorway and her heart leaping out of her chest, and she's falling towards the coffee table before she can grab onto anything.

A blink of a second later she's lying on the couch instead of falling, and she hears a thump and a muffled  _oof_  from beside her on the floor. When she turns around to look over, she finds Ally crashed on the ground, a small wince on her face. "Shit, babe," Lauren exclaims, reaching a hand towards her. "You okay?"

Ally's waving Lauren's hand away and pushing herself up when they hear the apartment door closing again, and Lauren seriously considers changing the locks to her place if this is how her friends use the keys she'd given them.

"Why couldn't you just," Lauren gestures awkwardly as Ally sits next to her, "I don't know, voodoo me here instead of switching us up?"

"I didn't exactly have enough time to react properly," Ally replies wryly, and the vaguely annoyed expression on her face has Lauren biting her lips not to chuckle. She still has Lauren's wetness smeared across her cheeks and mouth, and Lauren reaches over to try to wipe it away with a thumb. Ally catches her thumb with her mouth before she can pull her hand back, and Lauren's gut clenches when she feels Ally suck the wetness from her finger and rake her teeth over it.

"Shit-"

" _Um, Lauren?_ " she hears Camila calling out from outside the apartment door, and it snaps her out of the trance as she pulls her hand back. " _I'm so so sorry, I promise we're going away but, uh, Dinah left her flash drive there and my presentation is saved in it, and I kind of really really need it._.."

"Fine!" Lauren exclaims towards the door. "Just wait a freaking minute."

" _Damn, Jauregui's sour_ ," she hears Dinah exclaiming, and she rolls her eyes and extends a hand towards Ally and motions her over to the bedroom.

When Lauren tosses some sweats Ally's way, Ally grabs them with a puzzled expression. "I thought we..." She pauses, looks down at the clothes then back at Lauren. "Are we not going to... Why do I need these?"

"You might be a succubus, babe, but I don't think I can come with Dinah and Camila staring at me, and I do actually need to find Dinah's flash drive. Put those on," Lauren says, stepping into some sweats herself.

She pretends she doesn't hear it when Ally mutters a confused " _flash drive?_ " to herself as she gets dressed, but the smile it causes doesn't leave her lips until she's schooling her features to open the apartment door and stare at her friends with a stern expression.

"Again, I'm  _really_  sorry!" Camila exclaims as soon as she opens the door, jumping behind Dinah and using her a human shield as she peers at Lauren from behind her. "And, Cheechee was the one who opened the door. I swear I was going to knock!"

"You know I gave you those keys for  _emergencies_ , right?"

"Girl, whatever," Dinah says with a wave of her hand, looking past Lauren into the apartment and whistling. "So that's your girl demon, huh?"

"Behave," Lauren says sternly, stepping aside to let them in and smiling as Camila waves a hello to Ally and gets a hesitant wave back. 

 

*******

 

The girls end up staying over when they get distracted watching the finale to a cooking competition, which Ally has also become oddly invested in watching, and they decide to call Mani to get her to stop by as well.

Everything's been going pretty well once Ally loosens up where she presses against Lauren's side, chuckling under her breath every now and again at Dinah and Camila's goofing about. That's gone when Ally glances over at Lauren's phone where Lauren's texting Mani and tenses, shooting up from the couch abruptly.

They all look over at her in surprise, and when Lauren notices her blanched expression, she stands up as well, throwing her phone over to Dinah, not trusting Camila to catch it. "We'll be right back. Mani says she's just a couple of minutes away."

She rolls her eyes when Dinah immediately taps her phone's camera open and pulls Camila closer to take a selfie. She leads Ally into her bedroom by the wrist, and barely has time to close the door behind them before Ally's whipping around with a clipped expression. "You didn't tell me you were friends with a Kordei," she hisses urgently, and Lauren steps back in surprise.

"I- Um. Woah. What?" Lauren asks, frowning in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Ally makes a frustrated little noise and runs her hands over her face. "Of course you don't know," she sighs, starting to pace from side to side and running a hand through her hair in a habit Lauren's pretty sure she got from her.

"Ally, what's going on? Is this about Mani?"

"Let's just say," Ally mutters, wringing her hands in front of herself. "The Kordeis and my kind don't... get along. We haven't for generations, actually."

Lauren blinks in surprise, trying to work through that new piece of information. She thinks of Normani's grandmother, the same one dances with her and the girls whenever they're messing around at Mani's place, and also the same one who'd passed down the enchantment books Mani had shown her one day.

She thinks of Mani's urgent warnings back when Lauren had gotten curious about the whole summoning thing, and suddenly the near desperation to her voice back then seems to click in Lauren's mind.

"Oh." 

"Right." Ally says wryly. "I think I should go, then."

"What?" Lauren exclaims, stepping closer to her. "Ally, no, come on. It's not like that."

"Lauren, did you not hear what I just said?"

"Yeah, I heard it, but- listen, Mani's not... It's not like that. She's cool with us! Look, she's the one who gave me the enchantment to summon you in the first place, okay?"

That's enough to get Ally to pause, and when Lauren reaches out to grab her hand, she allows her to intertwine their fingers with a hesitant expression.

"Just stay and meet her? She's the only one of my best friends that I haven't introduced to my girlfriend yet."

Lauren's about one hundred percent sure that there's a real flush to Ally's cheeks when she looks up at her then, and she can't help grinning when Ally tightens her grip on her hand at her words.

"It's not like there's any reason for a bloodbath anyway, right?" She adds then, laughing only slightly awkwardly, but stopping abruptly when Ally presses her lips together and just looks back at her. "Oh, um. Right. Okay. "

Before she guides them back over to the living room, she stops, and turns over to face Ally with a frown.

"You're not going to kill my best friend," she says, slowly, just to make sure they're on the same page.

"No, I'm not," Ally replies, the corner of her mouth curling downwards when she rolls her eyes. "I'm not going to do anything to your best friend."

"Okay, then."

 

*******

 

**[3:29PM]** _  
Don't think I don't know about the whole “generations of demon slayers" thing._

**[7:52PM]** _**  
** I have nothing to do with that_

_I'm not here for that drama. and your girl is pretty sweet  
_

**[7:53PM]** _  
she thanked me last night for giving you the enchantment_

_which I don't remember doing LAUREN_

**[8:42PM]** _  
Oops_

**[8:46PM]** _**  
** I can't ever have you around grandma again_

_she has a sixth sense about people touching those books_

**[8:48M]** _  
You might want to keep Camz away from her as well then..._

 

         *******

 

Lauren's noticed that whenever they're hanging out with other people, Ally sticks awfully close to her. She obviously doesn't mind it - she'll gladly wraps an arm around Ally or cover her hand on her thigh with her own, but she notices the way Ally hesitates one day when Dinah offers her a fist bump, and it gets her thinking.

"It's not them. I just- I'd rather not cause problems," is Ally's quiet reply when Lauren asks her about it later.

"What do you mean?"

"Lauren, come on." Ally sighs. "My touch can... cause reactions in humans, you know that."

"I do know that," Lauren replies with a teasing grin, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively, and Ally laughs, pushing at her lightly. "Okay, so what? You can't touch anyone or you'll get them all lustful after you?"

"Well, not necessarily. I can tone it down, but it's hard to control, and... well..."

"Well, what?" Lauren prods.

"It... I don't want to cause any reactions. I'm yours, and it doesn't feel right to-" Ally stops abruptly, giving her a vaguely suspicious look. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Lauren shakes her head and pulls Ally closer to press a kiss to her cheek, burying her smile into Ally's neck as she hugs her. "You're mine, huh?" she asks, lips brushing against Ally's skin before she nips lightly at the curve of her neck.

"Shut up," Ally mutters, running her hands up Lauren's back, and she was definitely right about her touch causing reactions.

"Maybe I should mark you," Lauren muses, running her teeth lightly down her neck, biting down teasingly.

Ally doesn't respond, but Lauren feels the way her fingers dig into her back instinctively, and she sucks at a spot beneath Ally's ear in response, definitely not minding the scratches Ally drags down her back as she trails bites down Ally's neck and shoulder. 

 

*******

 

**[1:00PM]** _**  
** i'm not sure what your msg about me needing to let Ally touch me means_

_but i am slightly afraid_

**[1:09PM]** _  
I want to test something out._

**[1:10PM]** _  
is this your way to invite me to a threesome_

**[1:10PM]** _  
NO Camila!!!_

**[1:12PM]** _  
oh good because I didn't know how to turn u down gently_

  *******

 

"God, Ally, that's so good," Lauren moans around a mouthful of the cookies she's having, slapping Camila's hand away when she tries to reach for one too. 

"Here," Ally notes, handing Camila a chocolate cookie, not even flinching when their hands brush together, Lauren smiling when she notices it.

"I don't understand how you're so good at that," Camila mutters, closing her eyes in bliss as she takes a bite out of the cookie.

"It's not that different from enchantments," Ally says as she leans down to check the stove and wipes her hands on a dish rag she'd grabbed from Lauren's stack.

"Here she goes," Lauren mutters, rolling her eyes fondly.

"Baking's like," Ally waves her hands around as she tries to find the words. "The human equivalent of magic. And these," she says, lifting the book filled with recipes Lauren had helped her print, "are the scripts."

"Dude, it definitely seems like magic when it tastes this good," Camila says with her mouth full, managing to wring one of Lauren's cookies from her plate.

"The recipe says these next ones should be ready in, um, twenty," Ally notes with a frown. "It's a new one, so I hope I did it right."

"She always does it right," Lauren notes to Camila, pulling Ally closer by the waist and wrapping her arms around her. "She obsesses over the recipes."

"Stop with the cuteness," Camila says sternly, pointing over at them with a cookie. "These are already sweet enough," she adds, grinning when Lauren rolls her eyes.

"I'll be right back, I want to check if Masterchef is on," Ally says, and disappears from Lauren's grip in the blink of an eye.

"The TV's literally two rooms away," Lauren calls out loudly. "You're not going to miss it!"

"Don't forget to leave some cookies for Normani," Ally calls back. "I promised her she could have some from this batch!"

Camila and Lauren look up from where they'd been fighting for the last cookie, and slowly drop it back onto the plate.

Lauren gets up to start putting the mess on the counters away, smiling to herself when she notices how Ally had already started tidying up.

It still amazes her, sometimes, how Ally had managed to fit into her life so well. She's absorbed the tiniest of human mannerisms, like complaining when they're watching Netflix and the HD takes "too long" to buffer, and Lauren's pretty sure Ally's been talking more to Normani and Dinah lately than Lauren herself. 

Ally still doesn't know how to use a smartphone that well, but Lauren's laptop is constantly being hogged by Ally for her Skype video calls with the other girls (only after a long talk where they'd agreed that Ally materializing in Camila and Dinah's living room whenever she wants to talk to one of them is probably not the best of ideas).

"Don't do that," Camila shrieks from behind her suddenly, and Lauren turns around to find Ally giggling from behind where Camila's pressing a hand to her chest.

"What did we agree about materializing from nowhere to scare Camila?" Lauren asks with raised eyebrows, leaning back against the kitchen counter.

"Do you really want me to answer that while she's in the room?" Ally shoots back with a smile, and Camila points at Lauren accusingly.

"You're a traitor," Camila says. "Stop using your demon girlfriend against me! You already got me back for borrowing your book!"

"It was stealing," Lauren corrects, stepping aside when Ally waves her away from the stove. "And it was not just one."

"Whatever," Camila grumbles, wiping her hands against her jeans and getting up. "I'm picking Mani up from the bus stop so we can head to the bar. I'll see you guys there if you manage to leave the house."

Lauren rolls her eyes for what feels like the hundredth time today, and drops a kiss to Camila's cheek when she leans in. She watches as Camila and Ally share a small air kiss, averting her eyes before Ally can catch her smile. Camila leaves with a wave, showing herself out, and Ally immediately turns to her.

It's been months, and heat still rises in Lauren's body when Ally presses herself in against her like she's doing then, firm and purposeful as she leans up to brush lips against Lauren's neck. 

"I've fed you," Ally murmurs, hands reaching beneath Lauren's top as she presses kisses down the column of her throat. "Are you going to return the favor now?"

"I don't appreciate you absorbing terrible innuendos from us lousy humans," Lauren groans, clutching at Ally's waist and dropping her head back when Ally's hands cup her breasts. "But yes," she says when Ally chuckles and nips at her collarbone.

 

  *******

**[5:40PM]** _  
LAUREN Don'T forget the brown sugar_

**[5:43PM]**  
__  
  
**[5:47PM]  
** Why does%i t do that to your name

**[5:48PM]** _  
LAUREN_

_LAUREN_

**[5:49PM]** _  
I'm bringing the sugar._

**[5:55PM]**  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again to the amazing [heroau](http://heroau.tumblr.com) \- you literally wrote entire sections of scenes when I was stuck, and if it weren't for you this wouldn't exist.
> 
> As usual, [morgandexter](http://morgandexter.tumblr.com) has put up with me through the whole thing and been of great support. She tried to enforce a limit of 10k words so that I would be able to post this on Halloween, but I'm patting myself on the back for managing something around that.
> 
> Don't forget to shoot me a hello over on [my tumblr](http://generalfrings.tumblr.com) if you'd like! We also like to [talk about headcanons](http://generalfrings.tumblr.com/tagged/5h-asks) there, so if you have any, why not share too?


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